Metro striping question

[duelling carl]

My Metro doesn't stripe as well as I thought it would. I have seen other Metro's and different mowers without stripers leave the lawn looking like a baseball field even a week after mowing. My Metro stripes faintly and doesn't last. I am cutting the same grass that another guy with a Metro cut, without a turf striper, last year and mine does not produce the same results. This is the only thing I am disappointed in with the Metro. Does it have to do with the blade spacers? I am running it stock with 2 above and 2 below the spindle. This is the only thing I can think of...

[orangemower]

Sounds like the deck setup is not right. I don't own one so I'm not sure but I imagine the Metro is a fixed deck? If so, raise the blades up into the deck by removing 1 spacer from the top and adding it to the bottom, then lower the entire mower down that same amount. After that, try to put forward pitch in the deck. Raising the blades up into the deck more will create more suction and pull on the grass as the back of the deck passes over.

[Kkane97]

I had a home made striper but It was just a PITA, so Im back to the stock "flap" I double cut every lawn that I mow for 2 reasons, increase stripe visibility and hit any stringers that may have been left behind, I also notice that in the high heat no rain weather we have been having the lawns I cut at least arent striping as good as they did in the spring growth, I didnt understand your post fully, do you have a striper on your mower or the flap?

[duelling carl]

I do not have a striper just the flap. I was thinking about making my own with pvc pipe though. I have proper deck rake so I know it's not that. The book says to put all blade spacers below the spindle for maximum cut quality but in order to do that and still maintain my current cutting height I need to adjust the rear axle position so I am hoping to avoid that. It gets a great cut now I just wished it striped a little better for my customers who were used to striping from their prior lawn service.

[riverjunkie]

How high are you cutting. I notice that as the heat rises and the rain becomes less reliable my stripes become faint if I am mowing below 3.25" I generally raise my cut height to 3.5" to 4" this time of year. I have a lazer z and I was disappointed with the stripe quality until I figured out the problem. Basically if you are cutting too short and if the grass is dried out it won't bend over at the end of the blade to create the striped effect.
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[Kkane97]

Originally Posted by riverjunkie

How high are you cutting. I notice that as the heat rises and the rain becomes less reliable my stripes become faint if I am mowing below 3.25" I generally raise my cut height to 3.5" to 4" this time of year. I have a lazer z and I was disappointed with the stripe quality until I figured out the problem. Basically if you are cutting too short and if the grass is dried out it won't bend over at the end of the blade to create the striped effect.
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The height for me makes a big difference as well, For my old striper I took 4" pvc filled it with sand capped off both ends, then drilled through the caps to insert a bolt, the nut went inside the cap and a washer on the outside, so the pvc could roll, it worked great but I never rigged it good for backing up CRUCH!

[riverjunkie]

I also attempted a home made roller. the answer i came up with for backing up was a bracket mounted above the roller and a cable that when i pulled it the roller was raised up to the bracket. But it was all in all too combersome I had made mine from a solid 1.5" bar of steel. it worked great but since I lift my push mower in and out of my truck. I switched to filling the factory flap with lead weights. It's better than the factory flap by itself and no issues backing up and the best part lighter

[duelling carl]

I am currently set up to cut 3.5" as per the manual. I took a walk around after mowing this week and posted it on youtube. So you can take a look and see what I mean. From certain directions you can see them better but I live on the corner of a development that is off a main artery so I want people to see nice stripes especially when I put up a sign for advertisement.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CFzk37XIhU&feature=plcp

[riverjunkie]

Looks to me like it stripes just fine in the back yard where the quality of grass is better, mostly the same kind of grass and seems thicker. Where as in the front yard it is sparse and different types of grass. Try to work on the health of your lawn and the stripes should become more noticeable.
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[duelling carl]

yeah, my lawn has been neglected for years under the care of my father but now it's my thing I have been really working hard on it. This fall I'm ripping it all up and starting over with drought tolerant tall fescue.